A Pleasant Color
by Kotan-Chan
Summary: Kotan here with my second FanFiction ever. It's a spinoff of my first one called "Stuck in the Janitor's Closet". Where my previous centered around WhiteGold, this one focuses on what happens after, but centers on Maroon. This will be multiple chapters as well. You don't necessarily have to read the first one to understand this one, but I recommend it. Enjoy.
1. A Trip to Val-Mart

It was a bit too quiet in the dorm room of team RWBY. Yang and Weiss were notably absent so that left Blake and Ruby alone. As usual, Blake was reading over on her bed. Ruby was on hers looking entirely bored when she looked over to the black themed girl and decided to speak.

"It's pretty quiet with Yang and Weiss not around-"The red themed girl smiled a bit as she jumped down from her bed and changed the topic. "So watcha readin anyways?"

Blake peered over the top of the book to answer. "Our textbook from Professor Ports' class, it's rather hard to pay attention to his lectures when all he does is ramble, boasting about his younger days."

"Well, that's true, it's so boring! He doesn't even go over what we're supposed to be learning about. Uh, well, at least that's what Weiss says."

"Hmm, I suppose you're right about it being quiet as well, but it's not really a bad thing." She sighs and marks her place as she finishes her paragraph. "I don't appreciate them arguing while I'm trying to read. The only reason we got them trapped in the janitor's closet was to have them get along. I never expected their relationship to flourish beyond that of friends; to think we were sitting down the hall the whole time."

"I know, it's actually kinda weird if you think about it, but it's also kinda nice."

Blake gave her a glare. "For you maybe, I was the one who lost the bet, I really thought they'd dislike each other even more."

Ruby giggled with a small smile. "Yup, and now you have to let me touch your ears and buy me cookies for the whooooole month! Oh, speaking of which, I kinda need more." She laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Already?" She looked to be in slight shock. "I-I just, but, w-why do I even bother? You know you're gonna be a diabetic if you keep consuming sugar like you do. Seriously." Running a hand through her raven colored locks she muttered to herself lowly. "Ten boxes. Ten! In just two days…I'm starting to think it's just the sugar that gives her speed, not her semblance."

"Aw Blake, they're just so good! I've never had a problem with it anyways." The younger girl pouted.

Her gaze hardened again as the raven haired girl glared. "You ate yourself into a severe stomach ache. That's why Yang said no more triple chocolate chip cookies."

"O-Oh yeah," Ruby remembered and tried to fake slight embarrassment; truthfully she'd faked the thing to get out of a test and she was surprised when none of her teammates, especially her sister, hadn't caught on. "B-But that was one time! I promise I'll be careful."

"Mhmm, sure, but then there was that time at the Schnee Cookie Factory."

"You guys are never gonna let that go are you?!"

"You ate an entire tub of raw cookie dough! You have a problem. That's why you better make these next boxes last. I don't exactly have a lot of money you know."

"I'm sorry Blake." She sighed. "I promise I'll make these cookies last this time."

The older girl didn't seem to acknowledge the promise as she made her way over to grab her wallet. With a slight sigh of her own she grabbed it and Gambol Shroud and beckoned Ruby to her.

"C'mon, there's a shuttle headed to Vale in less than fifteen minutes, we can make it if we hurry."

Not too much longer after that both girls were comfortably seated on the shuttle and making their way to downtown Vale, with the younger girl humming happily and looking out the window at the scenery as they passed by. Blake watched her for a while with a content smile of her own before coming to her senses and asking her the question that had bothered her for the past few minutes.

"Hey Ruby,"

She hummed her reply.

"Now that I think about it, out of all the things you could have asked for, why did you want to touch my ears?"

"Oh," She turned to face the older girl with a smile, "Well for one, they're really cute, two they look really soft and I was wondering if they we're as soft as they looked. I mean- I don't really have any other reasons than that other than I just really had this urge to touch them."

"They're not toys, they're part of me. I hide them but I do so because I want people to accept me for who I am and my personality, not my race."

"I know that Blake. I'm sorry if I offended you."

"No, you didn't offend me, but now that Yang knows, I've felt like she's going to pounce on me just to touch them."

"I don't think Yang would go that far, probably not, anyways."

The two soon reached the Val-Mart store and walked in where Blake grabbed a hand basket.

"So, since we're here what else do we need?"

"Milk, we might as well get some while we're here, I finished off the last of the jug this morning."

"Okay then," She giggled as they went to get it first.

"I-It's not a cat thing!" The raven haired girl blushed.

"Um, I never said it was; since you're on the defensive though it really makes me wonder." She grins a bit and quickly took off before the other girl could get another word in.

She caught up to her companion as she'd been looking at the clothing and closed her eyes for a moment trying to catch her breath. "Ruby, will you ever ditch the cloak?"

Ruby looked startled, like what her teammate had just suggested was worse than death itself, she regained her composure and grinned only seconds later. "Nope!"

With a smirk she replied, "You would've if I'd won the bet. That and you'd also have to read the part of my novel I showed you. Aloud. To Weiss."

"B-But I won! So." She stammered, blushing a bit at the mention of the book. "I don't see how you can read stuff like that anyways…"

"Yeah, you can, so moving on. C'mon we still need to get those cookies."

"Yay cookies!" Ruby cheered as she ran to the isle, leaving rose petals in her wake, miraculously not knocking anything over as Blake chased after her with a smirk still on her face.

_ Her child-like enthusiasm is really adorable. _The older girl thought as she watched Ruby look over all the choices.

"See anything you like?"

"Mhmm," She replied absently then suddenly seemed to focus. "Say Blake? What kind of cookies do you like? I wanna share them with you. I mean it's only fair since you're being so nice about this and all."

The other girl seemed honestly surprised that her leader had offered that and once she got over her shock, offered one of her rare smiles in return. "That's really sweet. Hm, well, I like oatmeal raisin cookies. I know it's kind of weird."

"Not weird, but ew, you would like the one cookie in this world I hate. They're so disgusting!" Ruby made a disgusted face then laughed a bit. "That's okay I guess. I'll buy you some and then you can buy me chocolate chip!"

"I don't eat them like a glutton. I enjoy a few with some tea. A whole box would last me quite some time."

"My dear friend Blake, are you implying that I am a glutton?" Ruby jabbed her finger into her friends' chest for emphasis and the older girl gave her a look. If it had been anyone else they'd have lost their finger at the least, their whole arm at the most. At that Ruby stuck her tongue out. "Fine, I'll remember that. So it's settled then!" She quickly grabbed the boxes of cookies and put them in the basket.

"Anything else we need or want?"

The red themed girl looked deep in thought for a moment then smiled. "Nope! We could always go to the bookstore though."

"Yes, but they don't allow food in." Blake pointed out as they walked through the aisles. "Besides, the milk would spoil by the time we finished."

"Oh, well, you have a point."

"Mhmm."

"Oh I know! We could always drop this stuff off at the dorm and then go to the bookstore! Or we can come back for the stuff later! Although that's totally up to you since you're paying for most of it." Ruby suggested with an excited look on her face.

"Well, I suppose-"

"Really?"

"I don't mind either way, so you can choose."

The younger girl started bouncing, no longer able to contain her excitement. "Great, so we'll come back here after finishing at the bookstore then! I really don't wanna head back to Beacon just yet."

"Let's put all of this back then." The girl with the ribbon sighed. "I feel like we just wasted more time than we needed."

"There's nothing wrong with wasting time every once in a while. It was kind of a random thought anyways. "

The pair quickly returned the items to their original locations, with a bit of help from Ruby's semblance, and left Val-Mart.


	2. Oblivious to The Obvious

**Kotan here with another chapter. Thank you all for reading thus far. I'm going to try and upload these every Tuesday if possible. In other news, I'm soon to have cover art! I'm working on my own cover art, but real life has kept me busy. I will upload as soon as I finish them! Until then, enjoy.**

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Blake and Ruby headed down the street a ways chatting about mundane things for a while.

"I'm getting kinda hungry; are there any good places we can eat?" Ruby asked.

"Hm, well, there's this café right next to the bookstore we could go to. I've been there with Yang a few times and I think Sun as well. It's a very nice place with good food. How does that sound?"

"That sounds fine to me." She replied with a smile.

"You seem happier than you normally are." The older girl noted as they keep walking.

"I am, spending time together is nice, aren't you happy too?"

She seemed a bit flustered but responded nonetheless. "Kind of."

"Hmm, well as team leader it's my job to make sure you're one hundred percent happy by the end of today then! So, let's go get that food now."

The amber eyed girl smiled a bit and sighed when the silver eyed girl looked at her with slight curiosity and suddenly grabbed her hand.

"Um, this is okay, isn't it?"

She had pulled back in shock for a moment. "I-I guess," Blake quickly slipped her hand back into Rubys', as she noticed the younger girls quick frown when she had jerked back. "Why do you want to hold my hand though?"

"Oh, well, back at Signal I used to hold hands with my friends like this all the time when we went out." She bit her lip with a sad, small, smile as she quickly added. "It's okay if you don't want to. I just thought it might be nice…"

"It's fine. You just took me by surprise. It might prevent me from loosing you in this huge crowd as well. So, I don't mind."

Rubys' bright smile returned as they continued their walk. Blake was aware of the many people staring at them but her team leader was oblivious. She was smiling cheerfully when the two suddenly tripped and she accidentally fell on top of the older girl.

"Ohmygosh Blake I'm so sorry!" She blurted as she quickly got up and stumbled to her feet, offering her hand to help her up, but Blake quickly got to her feet on her own.

"I'm just fine Ruby. Are you okay?"

"Uh huh!"

They had finally reached their destination at this time and were now starving. Thank goodness for small miracles that they had landed right in front of the place they had looked for. The pair quickly heads inside. The two girls are quickly seated and start looking over the menu.

"I've never been here, but it really does seem nice, any suggestions?"

"The iced tea and the café special." Blake responded without missing a beat.

"Hmm," Ruby hums, thinking it over for a moment as she continues to look. "Alright, seems like it wouldn't hurt to try it."

A few minutes passed and Blake ordered for the both of them, as soon as the waiter left she turned back to Ruby.

"I have a question for you."

"You do?"

"Yeah, how do you feel about this whole Weiss dating Yang thing?"

"Well it's like I told you earlier. It's fine with me as long as they're both happy, though it is a bit weird since they still argue all the time."

"No, that's not what I meant; you said you had a crush on someone, so I assumed naturally that it was Weiss since the two of you are partners."

"Ohh no not Weiss," She laughed softly, while adding packets of sugar to her tea. "Though I could see where you would think that…she may have warmed up towards me a bit since we first met, but no we're just friends."

"So it's Jaune then? He seems to have a crush on every girl he meets though."

"Nope! Not Jaune, he's nice and funny and all that, but nope. I don't think I could ever see him as boyfriend material. He's like a goofy brother to me. Keep guessing."

"I see," The raven haired girl mused as she stirred her drink with her straw. "I didn't know you liked incestuous things. I've once read a novel where two siblings fell in love, but I wouldn't have pegged you as the type."

The other brunette sputtered and choked at her words, having just taken a sip of her drink. "Oh no! Nonono! Ohmygosh!" She blushed really red and muttered. "I mean, yeah, Yang is attractive. I'm not denying that. You'd have to be blind not to acknowledge that, but that doesn't mean I'd ever have a crush on her or anything like that!"

"I apologize, then is it someone from back at Signal? Otherwise I have no clue as to who it might be."

"Nope!"

"I see." _Wait, if it's not any of the people I previously mentioned then it has to be…me?! No, that couldn't possibly be right, could it? _

Just then the waiter came back with their orders.

"Oh good, the food's here!" Ruby exclaimed happily, relief coming over her features.

The two ate in comfortable silence for a while, occasionally breaking it to comment on the food and the service, and before they knew it they had finished their meals. Blake paid for it and they left.

"Are you ready to go to the bookstore now?" She asked.

Ruby simply nodded, making to grab for the girl's hand again, but she was stopped.

"Not now."

The younger girl looked dejected for a moment but quickly got distracted by the thousands of books that were now in front of them as they stepped inside the store. She almost didn't notice when Blake separated from her, but assumed that she had just gone deeper into the store to find herself something else to read.

As soon as Blake reached the adult section in the back of the store she took a few minutes to compose herself as she muttered. "Get a grip Blake, think rationally, all you have to do is avoid her for a bit and-"She turned the corner, only to bump into the very person she was trying to avoid for a bit and let out a startled cry.

"Blake, are you okay, you look like you've just seen a ghost or something?" Silver eyes met amber as she looked innocently at her friend. "It's just me. What were you mumbling about anyways?"

"Oh! Um, it's nothing." She replied as she tried to calm herself down and cleared her throat while hastily changing the subject. "So, did you find anything good?"

"Yup! Did you?"

"Not yet. What is yours about?"

"Oh, it's about this Faunus and a human who fall in love, it's part of a series and I just thought it sounded interesting."

_Are you kidding me!? This is not some odd coincidence_! The Faunus girl thought to herself. "Hm, well it does seem to be_. _I can't really find anything so why don't we get out of here?"

"Sure, it's getting kinda late anyways, and we still have to swing back to Val-Mart. Just let me pay for this real quick. You can head outside and wait for me."

Blake nodded and headed outside. She noticed a familiar blonde across the street, accompanied by a shorter white-haired girl and smiled when the blonde met her eye and waved, tugging the shorter girl along with her as she walked over.

"Hey Blakey, nice to see ya here! Watcha doin?"

"Hi Yang, hello Weiss, I'm just waiting for Ruby. She's in the bookstore. We're headed to Val-Mart as soon as she's done. Remember the bet that she and I made?"

Weiss shook her head in disapproval. "Yeah, we're still mad about that." She looked to Yang and smiled. "Well, kind of, anyways we just left the movies. We saw a marvelous story about this human who falls in love with a Faunus. It was very good. I almost cried at the end-"

"What do you mean "almost"? You were sobbing! I had to hold you till you stopped. It was sooo cuuuuute! You just don't wanna admit it."

"S-Shut up! You were crying before me!"

The raven haired girl chuckled a bit at the couples' antics. "I believe Ruby is actually buying the book that movie is based on. She said it sounded interesting."

Yang grinned but rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's ironic."

"So what will you two be doing now?"

"Well I want to go clubbing but I have no idea what Weiss wants to do."

As soon as the Heiress hears this she pulled away from her girlfriend with a huff and placed her hand on her hip. "Yang Xiao Long, we are not going clubbing, I'm not about to let you get hit on by every guy that looks at you; Which is usually all of them! Why don't we do something else? Maybe go with Blake and Ruby to Val-Mart?"

The blonde groaned softly and muttered to herself. "It's bound to happen where ever we go anyways." Then she sighed. "Fine, but next time we're all going clubbing. I don't wanna hear any excuses; As long as Blake and Ruby don't mind us tagging along tonight of course."

"Clubbing isn't really my thing, also, Ruby is too young-"

"I just said no excuses!"

Ruby came outside and seemed surprised to find her whole team standing there. "Hiya sis. Hi Weiss. What are you two doing here?"

The latter was the quickest to respond. "We ran into Blake out here. We're going to go to Val-Mart with the two of you if that's okay?"

"Sure, the more the merrier!"

"Shall we?" Weiss smiled again and took Yangs' hand once more as the group headed to Val-mart together, Ruby was humming happily the whole way, and soon they reached the store.

As soon as they got inside Blake suggested that they should split up. She and Yang would get the snacks while Ruby and Weiss would get the drinks.

"Alright, Yang is bad at drink choice anyways." The blue-eyed girl jibes as she took off with her partner.

"Just because no one likes the stuff you drink doesn't mean my drink choice is bad Princess!" The lilac eyed girl shoots back before taking off after her partner to the snack isle.

"Hey Yang, I want to ask you something."

"Okay,"

"You know Rubys' secret don't you?"

Yang hummed in response, looking over snack options before meeting her partners' eyes. "Gonna have to be more specific there Blakey, we're sisters. We share a lot of secrets."

She looked nervous before continuing. "You know…the one that Weiss probably knows too."

"Ohh thaaaat one."

They both grabbed a few snacks in silence, Blake was growing more uncomfortable by the moment, and Yang knew it.

"Your sister has a crush on me and you both know it. So why didn't you tell me? We are partners." The black themed girl couldn't hide her hurt and it showed clearly on her face.

"Oh Blakey," The yellow themed girl sighed. "I was going to tell you at first, but Weiss said we should let you figure it out for yourself, and I hate to admit it but she was kinda right."

They paused at the cookies and she let out a sigh of her own. "Well I'm sorry I didn't catch on until I ruled out everything else. She seems so happy too…but I'm just not sure about how I feel."

"I understand that. That's one of the reasons I was so hesitant to get with Weiss. That's another reason we didn't want to rush you into anything, you know?"

"Yeah," She sighed again and grabbed a few boxes. "I just don't know."

Yang placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Let's head back." 

"So when are you going to say something?" Weiss asked as they browsed the drinks available to them.

"Huh?" Ruby hadn't really been paying attention to the white themed girl, lost in her own thoughts.

Weiss tried not to show irritation as she gave Ruby a look. "To Blake, you said you had a thing for her, right?"

"Well yeah-"

"So why haven't you said anything to her?!"

"It's harder than I thought it would be!"

"How so? Just confess to her, or get locked in a closet with her. What I'm trying to say is why be afraid? Go and use a bit of womanpower and show her how you feel. Yang and I are supporting you and we want to help you. Me, as your partner, and her as a loud, wild, and loving sister."

Ruby looks close to tears as she sighs in frustration "I don't wanna make things more difficult than they have to be…I mean…what if she doesn't feel the same way? I totally don't want to scare her off. Cuz not only would this affect me. It would affect the whole team! She's really pretty and smart and nice…I don't want to lose her friendship if something were to go wrong."

Weiss was lost for words, so she said nothing as she picked up an energy drink, her partner noticed and walked over. Desperate to change the conversation to something less emotional she went to the first thing that popped into her head.

"Whatcha got there?"

"Huh? Oh, it's the drink I'm getting"

"Since when do you like energy drinks?"

"It tastes like Yang and-wait, why am I telling you this?!" She suddenly looked flustered as she looks away and the pair quickly chose several more drinks for purchase.

Ruby giggled a bit. "Well I really didn't need to know that, but it's funny, and actually kinda cute."

Her partner looked wide-eyed and blushed, quickly pulling Rubys' hood up with a hard yank. "S-Shut up you dunce! C'mon, we still have to meet the others."

"Heeey, that hurts you know!" She cried as she quickly pulled down her hood while Weiss pulled her through the store. Said girl just rolled her eyes.

"No it didn't. Now come on."

The group finally makes their way back to each other, looking rather pleased with the others selections.

"So did you find everything?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, I may have gone a bit overboard though, so allow me to pay." Weiss offered.

Yang, noticing an extra energy drink than normal "Why are there three of the energy drinks I like in here?"

"I wanted something different. Plus I got extra drinks as well."

The amber-eyed girl cut in. "I got Ruby's cookies, as well as chips, snack cakes, also Yang wanted a huge bag of beef jerky."

"Yang is obsessed with beef jerky!" Ruby piped up.

"I am not! It's just really good…"

"-anyways it sounds like you guys got some really good stuff!" Blake announced. "Let's get back and enjoy our Friday evening."


	3. Good Witch, Bad Night

**Kotan here with the 3rd Chapter! Thank you to everyone who has been viewing this story. I'm glad there are people appreciate Maroon and White Gold and hope you continue to view as time goes on. As usual, I hope you enjoy.**

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Weiss sat on her bed and relaxed while taking off her boots. "It's great to be back."

"I agree." Ruby sighed happily.

Yang looked slightly annoyed. "Aw, you guys are no fun."

Her girlfriend glared at her and walked over. "Shut it Yang," She smiled a bit and kissed her. "You got your favorite."

The blonde brawler sighed a bit and shrugged. "Fair enough."

Across at their small kitchenette Blake had begun to make some tea. "Weiss, would you like some?"

"Hm, oh sure Blake, that would be excellent, thanks." She smiled a bit as she made her way to the bathroom to change.

It only took a few seconds for Yang to sneak over to the door.

"Um Yang, what are you doing?"

"Ruby! Shh! I'm trying to spy on my girlfriend."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

The older girl shrugged as she opened the bathroom door. "I'll take my chances."

"Yang, what the hell?!" Weiss shrieked.

"What, I'm not allowed to appreciate my girlfriend?"

"Not when I'm-" Her cries of protest were cut off by a door slamming shut behind them followed by a long silence

Blake looked slightly startled. "Well…that was…"

"Well Yang would usually say 'That was a thing.' But honestly I'm not exactly sure what that was…umm. Okaaaay then." Ruby looked slightly nervous as she sat down.

"Yeah, would you like some tea?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Milk then?"

"That actually sounds much better. I can get it though. Thanks."

After getting the milk Ruby sat happily and began to devour some her cookies. Blake, with a smile, sat next to the cloaked girl.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Nope! Here, have some cookies." The girl offered cheerfully, pushing the plate in the direction of her teammate as she sat down with her cup of tea.

"Thanks, I'll just take one though." She took a cookie and bit into it, closing her eyes and taking in the taste. "It's really soft."

"It's supposed to be; sometimes they're better that way."

"I see, well I'll be up on my bed." The raven haired girl quickly made her way to her bed and opened her book, quickly becoming absorbed in it.

A few minutes later Weiss and Yang came back out of the bathroom. Weiss looking a bit red in the face and Yang wearing a huge grin, looking quite pleased with herself.

"That was great!" The latter exclaimed happily.

The former looked slightly dazed but quickly shook it off. "Y-You're…You dolt, I'm still angry with you!"

Yang just rolled her eyes. "Hardly Princess, you enjoyed that just as much as I did and you know it."

"You forced yourself on me; you pervert!" The Ice Queen huffed and quickly turned away from her girlfriend and turned towards Blake. "Blake, tell her! She's always begging you to let her touch your ears!"

The aforementioned girl seemed too absorbed in her book to even notice Weiss talking to her. Weiss looked even more irritated than before as Ruby started giggling a bit.

"I don't think she can hear you right now." Ruby giggled. "You know how she is with her books."

"Seriously, that girl." She sighed and headed for her own bed with Yang following close behind as the blonde shook her head.

"What? I'm usually like that too, if the books any good that is."

Weiss seems to ignore that as she suddenly turns her attention back to her girlfriend. "Oh no! You're going to go to your own bed tonight and sleeping by yourself. Don't you dare think of giving me the puppy eyes like Ruby either!"

"Aw, c'mon Princess, I promise I'll behave myself!"

"No, that's final!"

Sensing something about to go wrong, Blake quickly closed her book and headed out the door. Ruby followed behind shortly after, not wanting to stick around to find out what was going to happen next. Those two really brought a new meaning to kiss and make up.

The younger girl followed the older girl to the rooftop where the older girl sat and resumed her reading. Ruby grumbled a bit about how she wished she'd brought her book, but she wasn't about to go back in there anytime soon.

"Hey Blake, do you mind if I join you? I mean I know we just spent the whole day together and it's just been really nice but I'd understand if you want to be alone. I could always go to team JNPRs dorm…or something."

Her bow twitched slightly at the sound of the other girls' voice as she didn't even look up from her book to answer. "It's fine. I just want it to be quiet."

"Okay, I can do quiet! I'll be so quiet you won't even know I'm here."

"I'm sure." She replied with a slight smirk.

Time passes by slowly with the cat Faunas reading and the scythe-wielder watching silently, growing slightly bored, she was about to open her mouth to speak when Blake's bow twitched again and she had a sudden idea.

"Can I touch your ears now? We're up here all alone and I doubt anyone is going to bother us. So can I please?"

"Sure," She rolled her amber eyes with a slight sigh as she slowly reached up and undid her bow, revealing her violet colored cat ears.

"They're sooo cute." The silver eyed girl gushed as she reached up to touch them and Blake returned to her book once more. She switched tactics and started to rub them, suddenly startling the Faunas girl from her reading with a jolt.

"Ruby, please," She hissed. "Don't do that. Or at least be a little gentler. They're rather sensitive."

"Oops, sorry."

"Just be more careful. As I've said before, they're not toys." The older girl reprimanded as she returned to her book, her attention wavered whenever the younger girl would give more attention to one ear than the other, she was slightly tilting her head to the side when she suddenly shook herself out of it and closed her book. She quickly got to her feet and put her bow back on; her face slowly reddening. "That's enough for now."

"They're amazing. I know why you keep them hidden, but I really wish you wouldn't."

"You know why. It's different…being a Faunus. So please don't start-"

"Do you really think I'd force you to do something that made you uncomfortable? That would be really mean of me. I'm not going to make you keep your bow off just because I like it better that way. Besides I-" She paused with her face beginning to redden. "Nevermind."

"What else are you not telling me?"

"I don't-"

"Don't try to deny it. Your expression says otherwise"

"Blake I-"

"Just tell me Ruby. I can't stand this whole cloak and dagger act."

Ruby looked anxious, Blake agitated, the latter knew it was only a matter of time before one of them cracked; and Blake Belladonna never cracked.

"I like you okay!" The younger girl blurted out. "Remember how earlier at the café I was trying to make you guess who I liked?! It's you! The one person you didn't guess and it's you. I didn't want to tell you because I was scared you didn't feel the same way. I didn't want you to leave us again because of my stupid feelings…Blake Belladonna you are one of the sweetest, smartest, most kindest souls I have ever met! So yes, I like-like you. And I…I understand if you don't feel the same. I don't want to force anything on you either so I'm just gonna go now." She finished quickly.

Blake was speechless for a moment before brushing past her in her mad dash to the door with wide eyes. It was too much for her to take. Sure she had her assumptions, but to have them thrown at her so suddenly like that was too overwhelming. Her thoughts were swirling around in her head at rates too fast for her to make any sense of. So she did the only thing she knew how to. She ran; and she kept running until she reached the fountain. Hopefully the younger huntress in training wouldn't follow. The former White Fang member really needed her space right now.

Ruby watched, stunned, as Blake ran away before she had the chance to leave. With a sad sigh her shoulders slumped in defeat. She wouldn't follow. If the other girl was in real trouble then she knew that she could catch up in a heartbeat, but for now she was going to head back to her room and probably try to sleep. It was awfully tiring to admit ones feelings after all.

Blake watched the water falling, lost deep in thought; did she like Ruby like that? Honestly, she wasn't sure. Her ears suddenly picked up the sound of footfalls coming from behind her and she quickly whipped her head around only to find the very familiar blonde disciplinarian.

"Professor Goodwitch-"

"Ah, hello there Miss Belladonna, out for a midnight stroll? I find it often clears ones head when dealing with difficult thoughts."

"Yes Professor, I was just about to head back actually."

"I would certainly hope so. It may be the weekend but one mustn't be awake for all hours of the night."

"I know, thank you." Blake was back to looking sullenly at the ground.

Glynda frowned a bit before deciding to sit on the bench with her student. "I may not be as sympathetic or good at dealing with other peoples troubles as Professor Port, but I am willing to lend an ear if you're willing to talk about your problems."

Blake bit her lip before looking her superior in the eye. "Well, it's like this," She began with the start of the day and ended with Rubys' confession. Glynda listened and nodded at the appropriate times, keeping some of the more negative comments to herself. "-and then I ran away and ended up here."

"I see, so the young Miss Rose has developed feelings for you. Tell me Blake, do you feel the same about her?"

"I-I don't know That's the problem. She's just so sweet…and kind but-"

The blonde cut her off. "I may not be an expert in romance but I'm sure if you allow yourself to be honest to yourself things will be fine."

A small smile finally graced the young womans face and she headed back to the dorms. "Thank you Professor Goodwitch."

"Goodnight Miss Belladonna." She watched the huntress in training get a safe distance away before saying aloud to herself. "An interesting development. I should inform Ozpin. He certainly was surprised about Miss Xiao-Long and Miss Schnee. Maroon. A pleasant color indeed."


	4. Of Books and Boutiques

**Kotan has returned with another chapter of A Pleasant Color. I don't have much to say other than enjoy and you have any requests, I'd love to listen. It's not a 100% chance I will do it, but I'm going to try to aim for a more angst-based or tragedy-one. Enjoy!  
**

* * *

Ruby had woken up from all the tossing and turning she'd been doing, so she got out of bed to see if Blake had come back yet; upon finding the other girl sound asleep in her own bed she let out a sigh of relief. All of a sudden Blake rolled over with a stretch and opened her eyes, looking very sleepy as she did.

"Huh?"

The younger girl blushed, ashamed at getting caught, as she quickly turned away. While behind her the older girl sat up and yawned.

"Ruby, what are you doing?"

"N-nothing," She responded, probably a bit too quickly to seem normal. "I was just wondering if you'd gotten back okay and how you were doing after…well."

Blake looked adorably confused for a moment, still too out of it to think much. "I'm just fine Ruby. Thank you."

She giggled a bit and smiled. "Well that's good," Then she suddenly noticed that the other girls ribbon had come off in her sleep, her kitty ears were perked up and alert. "Oh! Your ribbon came off, where'd it go?"

Ruby had to resist the urge to touch them as they spotted the ribbon lying on Blake's pillow. The latter was just about to put it back on when Rubys' self-control broke and she reached for the older girls ears.

"So soft…" She whispered with delight as Blake made room for her in the bed and started purring. The leader quickly pulled back in surprise when she noticed that her teammate had fallen asleep. Ruby herself felt the cumbersome weight of sleep fall upon her and before long, she too had gave in.

Some time later both girls woke up to the arguing of their other teammates.

"As if," Came the shrill voice of Weiss. "A nightclub is not where girls our age go!"

Yang was a bit louder in her retaliation. "It's where I like to go; besides we always do what you wanna do!

"That is so not true!"

Blake sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Hey guys, could you do this outside?"

"Yeah," A voice mumbled sleepily from next to her and let out a yawn. "Some of us are trying to sleep."

Blake's eyes went wide as she quickly jumped out of bed with a gasp and a small cry. "Aah! Ruby, what are you doing in my bed?!"

Said girl looked a little confused before replying with a giggle. "You must've been more out of it than I thought. You did invite me to lay with you after all. I guess I must've fallen asleep after you did, sorry."

"But-I wouldn't- Weiss, Yang." She shot them a glare, not really noticing that they seemed just as confused as she did.

The couple had broken up their argument in favor of the other twos' problems. They sure seemed far more interesting at this point.

"As fun as this all sounds kitten, believe me I'd love to take credit for this, but it wasn't my idea this time. I swear it."

"She's right," Weiss backed Yang up. "We woke up to find you two like that."

The black-themed girls face went a little red and she no longer had her usual calm expression. She seemed to be very embarrassed as she could no longer look her teammates in the eye.

"Aww, Blakey, are you embarrassed?" Yang let out a devilish grin. "That look on your face is just too adorable right now."

The comment made appeared to make the white-themed girl a bit jealous because she elbowed her yellow-themed girlfriend in the stomach. "Fine, we'll go tonight!"

Yang grinned and threw Blake a discreet wink. "Yeah? Thanks Princess. I knew you'd see reason."

"I'm not letting you out of my sight. I know how single people act around you." She glared.

The blonde opens her mouth to retort but is cut off by her younger sister before she gets the chance. "Please don't start arguing again. Once is enough for the morning."

"Seriously," The raven haired girl added as she went into the bathroom to get ready and locked the door behind her so Yang or Ruby wouldn't get any ideas.

"Welllll, you wanna explain that sis?"

"Yeah Ruby, I'm very curious myself."

"To be honest I'm not quite sure. I mean, I wasn't sleeping very well, so I went to check if she'd came back. Cuz she seemed really upset last night when I confessed to her. She took off running so I just thought…and then she caught me checking and then I noticed her bow had come off. I had the urge to touch her ears, ya know? And I guess she was like really really outta it cuz the next thing I know there was no objection and she let me in bed and then she fell asleep. The next thing I know we woke up to your argument. So, yeah, I don't know."

"I'm sorry I asked." Weiss replied.

"Wait, back up a sec, you actually confessed to her?!" Yang looked a bit shocked, but happy at the same time.

"Y-Yeah."

"Geeze lil sis, that's some story."

Weiss shook her head and suddenly seemed to remember something. "Yang, we've got to go, we're supposed to go dress shopping."

"Oh yeah!" The blonde said with a dumbfound expression. " See ya later sis!"

As the couple left, Ruby could hear a faint "Ow!" sounding from her sister as the door shut.

"Huh, wonder what that was all about? Oh well." She shrugged and picked up her book and a few minutes later Blake came out in a towel, holding it to make sure it wouldn't come off. Ruby didn't even notice her because she was so absorbed in her book.

Blake smiled and got changed quickly before going over to her team leader. "Ruby?"

"Huh, oh, I didn't realize you'd finished." She smiled back.

"How's your book? You're a good chunk in."

"It's really good; would you like to read it when I'm done?"

"No thanks. Romance isn't really my-"

"What about Ninjas of Love? You can't say it doesn't have romance." Ruby cut her off with a small shrug.

"Huh!?" The amber eyed cat Faunus looked caught off guard for a moment and started to blush. "Ruby, I told you not to look at my books on that shelf. They're not for children."

"I'm not that much younger than you. Besides, I didn't, Yang did. She told me about it." The duo-toned haired girl shrugged as she put her book aside.

"Don't lie. Yang wouldn't touch a book unless her hand was forcefully glued to one."

She bit her lip. "Okay, fine, so I read it. I just wanted to see why you seemed so obsessed with it…"

"H-How much did you read?"

"Um, all of it? I have to say, I didn't think you were into those kinds of books. It was kinda weird for me to read, but I did it."

"Even the part where they-"

"Yup."

"And when the twins-"

"Mhmm, and before you say anything else I know, that was book two."

"Did you read all of them?!"

"Well yeah, you don't just stop a series before it's barely started."

Blake seemed a bit shocked.

"Blaaaaake?" Ruby waved a hand in front of her face. "You okay?"

"Huh, yeah, just. Wow. I can't believe you did that. Anyway," She quickly glanced over to the clock. "Oh wow, it's getting close to dinner, I hadn't noticed."

"We sure slept in for a long time huh?"

"Yeah, I had a long night…I couldn't sleep."

"Same here."

"I-I'm sorry for running away last night. That was the first time someone had ever confessed to me before. I didn't know how to react, even when I knew beforehand, when you told me it was too much. I couldn't face you. I like you but I'm not really sure how and I don't want things to be awkward between us. I'd rather we take our time with these things. Okay? If our feelings change then they do, but I like how we are now. Don't take it the wrong way though." Blake blushed a bit. "It's not like I dislike you in that way."

"Oh," The younger girl smiled. "Sure. That's fine I understand."

"Thanks Ruby, really, I mean it."

"No problem, do you wanna go get something to eat now?"

"I was just about to ask."

"Great minds really do think alike."

"I agree, are you in the mood for anything in particular?"

"Hmm, nope! Are you?"

"Nope."

The two decided to walk to the cafeteria, but before Blake could suggest that they should eat in their room her scroll went off. It's Weiss suddenly demanding that they meet her and Yang at the boutique.

"Wait, why?" Ruby asked, peeking over Blake's shoulder.

"We're buying dresses and you two are going clubbing with us." Before anyone could say anything else she hung up.

"That was…uh. Sudden."

"Yeah, beats being here though, we can get food along the way if we hurry."

"Okay!"

They then walked into town trying to hurry but there was an unusually large crowd. The two were walking for a while when Blake went to speak.

"Okay, there are a few food vendors- Ruby?" She spied the fifteen year old over at a baked goods stand and shook her head. She made her way over.

"These look really good!"

"Sure." She went and bought some for Ruby. "Here you go."

"Thanks, did you want something?"

"No thanks. Cookies aren't really... Dinner for me" Blake smiled as she watched her friend quickly scarf down her food.

"I can always get you something else."

"That's sweet but I'll be fine."

Ruby shrugged. "If you say so."

By the time the pair got to the boutique they were met by a slightly irritated Weiss with Yang nowhere in sight. Presumably she was in a changing room at the moment.

"Where were you two?! We've been waiting for an hour and a half!"

The amber eyed girl rolled her eyes as she pointed at the noticeable cookie crumbs now on Ruby's blouse. The younger girl rubbed the back of her neck as she laughed nervously.

"Sorry Weiss, I was really hungry."

Weiss gave her a look of slight disgust before sighing. "Well, I suppose it can't be helped, you're here now though. That's what matters. Yang picked out your dresses already; she said she knows your sizes. Perverted blonde-"

Yang chose that moment to step out of the changing room wearing a short strapped orange dress with embroidered flames on the skirt. "What was that Princess?" She grinned, and then turned her attention to her sister and partner. "Hey guys, nice of you to finally join us!"

"Hi sis, that looks nice."

She spins to show off her curves and the noticeable tightness in her chest and butt, throwing a wink towards her sisters partner as the poor girl goes as red as Ruby's cloak.

"Y-Yang? Is that really you?" The heiress sputtered.

Blake was getting slightly impatient so she decided to speak up. "So Yang, Weiss said you got dresses for us?"

"Oh yeah! Thanks for reminding me. You're gonna love 'em!" The blonde brawler quickly goes to get them and Weiss came back to her senses as she went into a changing room to try hers' on.

"Here ya go!" She smiled as she handed Ruby a long red dress with sleeves that fit to the biceps and left the shoulders open leaving it strapless. "This one's for Blake." Then she handed her partner a long tight black dress with a slit on the skirt.

Blake looked at her and smirked. "You're good, this is the right size."

"I knew it would be! Now go try it on! You too Rubes."

Before either girl could move Weiss came back out wearing her dress. It was light blue with a jeweled pattern along the skirt. The white haired girl stepped back and Yang came up behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist, pulling her close. She smiled and whispered softly in Weiss' ear "You look beautiful.", then gave her a kiss while she was still frozen with shock.

The raven haired girl cleared her throat before the couple could get lost in their own little world any further. "We're ready now." She and Ruby had slipped into the changing rooms while their teammates had stopped paying attention. The latter was still wearing her signature cloak.

Yang smiled and nodded in approval towards Blake and sighed at the sight of her sister. "Ruby, ditch the cloak, for tonight at least. It needs to be cleaned anyways."

She went wide-eyed as she had with Blake at Val-Mart the day previous. "Wha- do I really have to?"

"Yes!" All three of her teammates practically shouted in unison.

After a bit of grumbling the youngest girl sighed and relented.

"Geeze Ruby, this thing smells, no wonder Blake doesn't want to date you." Weiss shot, causing Ruby to look uncomfortable and whimper.

"Ouch Princess, that was cold. Anyways, that's much better thank you."

"I agree," Blake smiled.

"Yeah, hold on a sec." The heiress walked up to the counter and flashed a black plastic card with a shiny cobalt Schnee logo on it without so much as a polite smile. The cashier nodded at her and she walked back over to the trio. "Okay, so I asked her if we could use the laundry room in the back to wash our regular clothes, she's also agreed to hold onto our clothes until we come back for them later. The power of the Schnee Heiress' Special Black Credit Card." She grinned with a superior look etched on her face.

"Cool."

"That's great, now we don't have to worry about carrying our stuff around, thanks babe!"

"I told you not to call me that in public!"

"Here we go again." Blake mutters and sighs; quickly taking off before the others can notice she's gone.

"This is never gonna change. Guys, c'mon, please stop. This is supposed to be a fun night out and you guys are just gonna ruin it if you keep arguing like this!"

Unfortunately her pleas for peace fell on deaf ears as the duo continued to bicker. After a while she noticed Blake had left so she decided to go out and look for her, besides by the looks of things they were going to be here for a while.

After only a few seconds of looking the fifteen year old smiled as she located the Cat Faunus standing slightly off to the side.

"Ruby," She looked a bit surprised to see her there. "What are you doing out here?"

"I came looking for you. I tried stopping them, but as you can see, I failed; since they didn't come out with me I figured that you'd be better company."

"I see." Blake mused for a moment. "You're always coming after me. If I didn't know any better I'd swear you were stalking me. You act like one sometimes, a stalker that is."

"W-Welllll they start fighting, you take off first, and I really don't like being alone. I'm sorry."

"Ruby, I was teasing, I don't mind. It's kind of nice to know someone cares. " The black-themed girl looked over at her for a moment, searching for something to say. "I like your dress."

"Oh!" The younger girl looked surprised for a moment before returning the complement. "Y-Yours looks nice too. Very nice."

"I think it's a bit tight, but not impossibly so." She shrugged, as she tried to ignore the girls stare that was lingering on her a bit too long. _Ruby is actually checking me out right now! What the-_

"It's perfect." She breathed, breaking Blake out of her thoughts.

"Well thank you Ruby, that's sweet." She smiled and blushed a bit and could almost swear the younger girl was hiding a small smirk of her own before the two noticed Yang and Weiss finally coming over to join them.

"Hey there you are! C'mon, let's go!" Yang cheered happily as she led the group down the streets of Vale a shady looking club with a windowless neon-laced facade.


End file.
